Finding And Buying Used Axles For Jeeps

Dana 60, Dana 44, Ford 8.8, Ford 9-inch; chances are you’ve read those names in Jp magazine or heard of them before when talking about Jeeps. Chances are also good that you have at least thought about swapping one of these axles under your Jeep. If not, you’ve probably drooled on one wishing it was yours, or hell, maybe you’ve rebuilt and installed one. Unless you bought your Jeep fully built, and we mean built like a brick poop shack, you have, or will, work on your Jeep’s axles. What to do when that Dana 25 front axle just won’t cut it, or you are scared of hearing that Dana 35 go pop? How does one find the right axle, get all the little parts that they need to swap a junkyard-fresh axle under their Jeep? Luckily, that’s what we at Jp are here for—to tell you what you want, what you don’t want, and what you might also forget. We’ll go over some of the more common axles that people swap under Jeeps, where to look for them, what to pay, and what else to grab.

Get Bent
Another danger of buying a used axle is running into one that is bent or damaged from an accident. Turning the axleshafts should give you an idea if something is bent. If not, you can check the level of the axletubes on either side of the differential with an angle finder or your eyecrometer. As with a true piece of wood, a well bent axle can be seen with the naked eye. You can also look at brackets and tabs on the axle. If they look bent or if there is rust near the weld or cracks, that’s bad. Having said that, not all axles that have been in a wreck are bad, but many are.